The High Court has barred the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Inspector General of Police, and the Director General of Immigration Services from deporting a Garissa resident who was arrested at the immigration offices in Embu.
Justice Alexander Muteti also ordered the suspect Mohamed Abdisalam Mohamed to be re;eased on his personal cash bail of Sh 1 millionlus two sureties to secure his release pending further directions.
At the same time in his ruling the judge also ordered the director General of immigration services to issue a prohibited migration visa to the suspect believed to be a Somali citizen.
Justice Muteti further directed that the immigration department do release personal effects belonging to Mohammed.
Which includes mobile phones.
The judge said that the court has been told that Abdisalam has been in police custody for a period of 10 days without a court order or producing him in court as required by the law.
The suspect, through his lawyer Kibiru Njenga, had told the court that the liberty of his client had been violated, and the court needed to take action to have him released.
He said his client is a Kenyan citizen who holds a National Identity card and was arrested while applying for a passport.
The lawyer submitted that it was incumbent upon the migration department to exercise its powers and have his client discharged.
Consequently, Justice Muteti directed that Mohammed sign a personal bond of ksh 1,000,000 plus 2 sureties to secure his release.
The judge further directed that the migration department do file an affidavit to the application filed by Mohammed.
Justice Muteti, however, directed that the immigration boss can be represented by their advocate, but the applicant, Mohamed, must be present in court.
Mohamed’s family had petitioned the High Court to order the DCI, Police IG and the Attorney General to produce him in court dead or alive.
“The DG Immigration Services, in whose custody the applicant (Mohamed) is said to be, is hereby directed to appear tomorrow. The respondents (DCI, IG and the AG) are required to comply with the order in the event that the subject (Mohamed) is still in their custody,” Muteti ordered.
“That the applicant is not to be processed for any removal from the country until the orders of this court are complied with.”
Lawyer Njenga,told the court that the arrest of the suspect was unlawful. without an explanation of any offences he could have committed. He did not resist the same but has been held at two different police stations for more than 24 hours in violation of his constitutional rights.
Njenga told the court that Mohamed is a law-abiding citizen who did not resist arrest, albeit unlawfully, indicating his willingness to submit to lawful process and to assist in any investigations.
The lawyer added that despite being known and publicly available, Mohamed was neither summoned nor formally approached by investigative agencies prior to his arrest.
The applicant also told the court that the DCI officers who are detaining him have been threatening to deport him to Somalia, even though he is a Kenyan with a Kenyan national identity card.
He told the court that he believes that he has been ethnically profiled and subjected to inhumane treatment by being threatened with deportation without any valid grounds or due process.
Since his arrest on May 15, Mohamed was held in two police stations in Embu, including Itambua Police Station, before he was transferred to Kilimani Police Station, where he was booked on May 19 vide Occurrence Book entry – 78/19/5/2025 – where he is still held.
Mohamed was arrested for having a double registration, where the immigration officials accused him of having been registered as a Somali citizen before he was arrested.
“To aggravate the matter, (Mohamed’s) family members, friends and associates, have been deliberately denied access to him – a clear, calculated and unlawful affront to both constitutional guarantees and the basic dictates of the due process,” stated lawyer Njenga.
” It is my considered view, as an officer of this court, that this Court cannot sit by and passively await the continued crystallisation of constitutional violations. It is the duty of this court to forestall such unlawful conduct by promptly ordering the (DCI, IG and AG) to produce (Mohamed) before a court of competent jurisdiction as the law peremptorily demands.”
The case to be mentioned on June 10 for further directions.
